He started his professional football career at Lumezzane and played for the first team twice before having an unsuccessful trial at FC Barcelona,[6] and subsequently joining Internazionale in 2007. Inter manager Roberto Mancini brought Balotelli into the first team, but when Mancini left, Balotelli’s disciplinary record fell away. He had a strained relationship with new head coach José Mourinho and was suspended from Inter’s first team in January 2009 after a number of disciplinary problems.
Balotelli, who is of Ghanaian descent, earned his first cap for the Italian national team on 10 August 2010 in a friendly match against the Côte d’Ivoire, becoming one of the first black players to play for the Italian national football team.